California Biographies
Transcribed by Peggy Hooper
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176
CHARLES F. EDDLEMON. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war Henry Eddlemon
enlisted in the defense of the colonies and by valor on the battlefield assisted in gaining indepen-
dence for our country. With a devotion to duty as strong in times of peace as in war, he took
up the quiet life of a tiller of the soil in his southern home. Late in life he took his family
to Missouri in a prairie schooner and settled upon virgin soil south of Perryville, where the remain-
ing years of his long life were passed. At a great age he closed his eyes upon the scenes of
time, cheered by a Christian's hope of eternal happiness. Throughout life he was a consistent
member of the Lutheran Church and a friend of religion.
Michael Sides Eddlemon, father of Charles F., was born in North Carolina March 22, 1822. and
grew to manhood in Missouri. During the Mexican war he served for nineteen months in Com-
pany I, Third Regiment of Missouri Mounted Infantry. The war ended, he returned to Missouri
and embarked in the mercantile business at Pleasant Valley, Perry county, where the ensuing
years passed uneventfully. At the opening of the Civil war in 1861 he volunteered his services to
the Union, first serving as a captain in the Missouri State Militia, and later acting as first lieu-
tenant of a regiment of Missouri Volunteer Infantry until the close of the war. Exposure to
inclement weather and the hardships of army life brought on rheumatism, from which he never
recovered. When the war ended he removed to the vicinity of Fort Scott, Kans.. where he bought
a farm and began to erect a house. Just before the house was completed he died, December 20,
1866. In religion he was a stanch member of the Methodist Church.
The marriage of Michael S. Eddlemon occurred in Perry county, Mo., March 1, 1849, and
united him with Mary Conrad, who was born in that county March 17, 1827, being a daughter
of Jacob and Selma (Bollinger) Conrad, natives of North Carolina. Her maternal grandfather,
Mathias Bollinger, removed from North Carolina to Missouri and settled on the Whitewater
river, in Bollinger county, where he engaged in tilling the soil until his death. Jacob Conrad,
who was a son of Peter Conrad of North Carolina, removed to Perry county, Mo., where he
was prominent among the early settlers. Both he and his wife remained in Missouri until their
death. After her husband's death Mrs. Eddlemon continued on the farm near Fort Scott, Kans.,
for a period of ten years, but in 1876 brought her children to California and during the greater
part of the succeeding years she has made Newman her home. In order of birth her children
are as follows : Mrs. Sarah Jane Sever, who died in Kansas; Christopher C, a resident of New-
man, Cal. ; William Purvis, who makes his home in Nevada, Mo. ; Jacob Henry, a merchant in San
Jose, Cal. ; George E., who died at five months of age; Ellen A., who died in infancy; Charles F.,
the subject of this sketch, who completes the family and is the youngest of the children. He was
born at Pleasant Valley, Perry county. Mo., December 7, 1865, and in infancy accompanied his
parents to Kansas. At the time of removing to California he was about ten years of age. For a
year afterward the family lived in Contra Costa county and thence removed to Hills Ferry, where
he and his brothers became interested in grain farming. In 1878 he began work as a teamster,
driving six and eight-mule teams. When he settled in Newman in 1889 he started a dray busi-
ness, which he has since conducted, having eight head of horses and several vehicles. In addition,
in 1898 he became agent for the National Ice Company and now engages in the retail ice
business, selling in Newman and vicinity, and shipping from Los Banos on the south to Crows
Landing on the north.
The neat residence which Mr. Eddlemon built in Newman forms a pleasant home for himself
and wife. The latter, formerly Miss Tessie Gray, was born near Fort Scott, Kans., and remained
there until her marriage. On the organization of Oristemba Lodge No. 354. I. O. O. F., Mr. Ed-
dlemon became one of its charter members and is now past grand. In matters political he votes
for the men and measures of the Democratic party and in its local work at one time took a very
active part as a member of the county central committee.